Amazon makes a move into sea freight

A listing on the US Federal Maritime Commission website reveals that Amazon has applied to become a non-vessel operating common carrier (NVOCC), through one of its Chinese subsidiaries, Beijing Century Joyo Courier Services. This would enable the company to purchase block space on ships and to sell this space on to other companies.

Air Cargo News speculates that this is evidence of Amazon looking into becoming its own delivery service, rather than merely making itself less reliant on carriers such as UPS and FedEx. The NVOCC application seems to indicate the intention to sell transport services to third parties, as otherwise they could have booked space directly from the shipping lines.